The professional contests were subdivided only into weight classes.

It was the first edition of the European Judo Championships to host judokas from the Socialist countries (Eastern European and Soviet), though they did not participate in the professional contests as professional sports were banned in those countries.

Contrary to the modern Olympic-based practice of entering one athlete per weight class, more than one representative of a single national team was allowed to qualify for participation in each event.

[2] This later precluded Anton Geesink from participating in the amateur weight classes at the judo event of the 1964 Olympics.

[3] Michel Bourgoin Jean-Pierre Dessailly André Iriart Mathieu Vallauri André Leclerc Willem Dadema Anton Geesink Jaap Mackaay Gerard Stroess Theo van Ierland Zurab Beruachvili Anzor Kibrotsashvili Anzor Kiknadze Michail Kukasevitch Genrikh Shults Italian team: Giuseppe Guerriero Romano Polverari Nicola Tempesta Remo Venturelli Gino Zanchetti